create knowledge
Yesterday I received a parcel from Nomos Publisher with my authors copies of “Postmoderne und Persönlichkeit”, which is one of the outcomes of a research project, in which I was involved. Unfortunately, it is only available in german laguage, but will probably be translated later on.
Another interesting turn in the russian merry-go-round: President Putin announced to accept the proposal of president elect Dmitri Medvedev to become Chairman of Edinaja Rossija after resigning on Mai 7th. One could arguethat this was a foreseeable move. But what is interesting about this, is that Putin will become the leader as a non-party-member. This might be interpretet as the next step of Edinaja Rossija towards becoming an all-russian movement somewhat in the tradition of the former CPSU, but with a substantial difference: The new ideology is neither totalitarian nor inspired by communism. It rather is what some analysts call etatist turbo capitalism or neo-liberalism. With the chairmen of Gazprom, Dmitri Medvedev and Alexei Miller, and the future leader of Edinaja Rossija, Vladimir Putin, the most exposed men control the most important posts in the country. This strategy fits well into what I would analyze as authoritarian consolidation. One main factor in this strategy seems to be the institutionalization of informal politics and networking to raise the capacity of the state to demobilize the people, civic society and oppositions.
Tom Christoffel, a shenondoah river, west virginia based (take me home, country roads!) bollgin’ guy is blogging on links, blogs and other contributions on regional affairs in politics and governments all over the world, has published a link on my co-editor scientific series “Change in World Regions”. For all folks interested in regional affairs in any part of the world, his “think local planet -act regionally” platform is one of the important sources in he blogsphere. If you are interested, visit his blog.
Weltregionen im Wandel – Change in World Regions
Schriftenreihe – Scientific Series
This scientific series contributes to the field of area studies in social sciences. All volumes deal with actual structures, actors and Dynamics of Change in Regions of the World (except of the liberal democracies and market economies in Western Europe and Northern America) from a comparative perspective. Main Regions of interest are the Middle East, Subsahara Africa, Asia-Pacific, post-soviet Europe and Central Asia. Main topics of interest are State, Power and Governance, Economy and Development, Culture and Society. The series comprises volumes from Political Science, Economy, and Sociology as well as interdisciplinary Approaches.
The Series is one of the few peer-reviewed in Germany. High quality manuscripts with an emphasis on theoretical foundation and method-driven empirical analysis in English as well as in German are welcome. The editors especially encourage authors to submit manuscripts based on their PhD-Thesis. If you are interested or have further queries, please feel free to contact one of the editors.
Die Schriftenreihe leistet einen wichtigen Beitrag zu sozialwissenschaftlichen „Area Studies“. Die Beiträge beschäftigen sich aus einer vergleichenden Perspektive mit aktuellen Strukturen und Wandlungsprozessen in unterschiedlichen Weltregionen außerhalb der „westlichen Welt“, das heißt der liberalen Demokratien und Marktökonomien in Westeuropa und Nordamerika. Im Fokus stehen die globalen Subregionen Naher und Mittlerer Osten, subsaharisches Afrika, das pazifische Asien und die postsowjetischen Staaten.
Das Interesse der Reihe gilt den drei Themenkomplexen Staat und Herrschaft, Wirtschaft und Entwicklung sowie Kultur und Gesellschaft. Die Schriftenreihe umfasst Bände aus der Politikwissenschaft, Wirtschaftswissenschaft und Soziologie als auch Beiträge, die in der Schnittmenge der drei Disziplinen oder angrenzenden geistes- und kulturwissenschaftlichen Ansätzen liegen. Besonderen Wert wird auf die sorgfältige theoretische Fundierung und methodische Analyse der empirischen Studien gelegt. Der Veröffentlichung geht ein anonymisiertes Begutachtungsverfahren voraus.
Die Reihe wird herausgeben von / the series is edited by: Holger Albrecht, Leuphana Universität Lüneburg; Prof. Dr. Aurel Croissant, Universität Heidelberg; Dr. Rolf Frankenberger, Universität Tübingen; Prof. Dr. Friedbert W. Rüb, Universität Hamburg und Prof. Dr. Siegmar Schmidt, Universität Koblenz-Landau.
The second – and affordable paperback – Edition of Formal Institutions and Informal Politics… has been published recently. This volume gives an introductory insight into the title-giving relationship between 1989 and 2005. It comprises a systematic explication of central concepts, analyses the character and main mechanisms of informal politics as performed by power elites as well as the personalisation of politics. Being rather free from norm-driven evaluations up to this point, the authors rise the question of democratic legitimacy in the context of national political cultures and their legacies.
Probably the volume could have produced more fruitful insights, if the authors had set the democratic legitimacy-aspect aside, but nevertheless the book is an excellent introduction into the informal politics debate. In addition, there are four very good case studies. Conclusion: Buy the book, if you are interested in informal politics and/or CEE
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